


History Begins

by celsius



Category: Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu | Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-11
Updated: 2013-12-11
Packaged: 2018-01-04 07:40:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1078325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celsius/pseuds/celsius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The greatest freedom is the freedom not to get involved.</p><p>Unfortunately, Yang Wen-Li lives in an absolute monarchy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	History Begins

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Taelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taelle/gifts).



> Named for the series end quote: "The legend ends, and history begins."
> 
> Taelle requested an AU where Yang was able to become a historian, and I couldn't resist writing a short fill for the prompt. Happy holidays, Taelle.

The Kaiserin summoned Yang just after the end of the semester, when all of his grading was done with and the leaves were starting to green. The invitation was both flattering and irritating. Flattering because the Kaiserin was ruler of the known galaxy, and irritating because his friends wouldn't stop talking about it, not even when Yang wanted to sit on the porch at the faculty club and drink tea under a drowsy sun. 

Yang spent the summer fabricating reasons why he absolutely could not leave Heinessen Memorial University under any circumstances. He had himself appointed the associate dean of liberal arts, put in paperwork to adopt a war orphan, and even convinced one of his colleagues to diagnose him with a nervous disorder. But it was all to no avail. The world arranged itself in the Kaiserin's favour, and Yang ended up on her capital ship with a queasy stomach and a raging hangover.

"Professor Yang Wen-Li." The Kaiserin took in his sorry state. "I see that you've been nursing some concern about this audience." 

And because Yang was still slightly drunk, he met her scrutiny with a smile and a shrug. 

"Historically speaking, an autocrat will only single out a minor critic like me when they feel threatened by forces that are less easily controlled. If you're in that situation right now, well…" He rubbed the back of his neck. "The war didn't end so long ago. It's going to be a lot of trouble for everyone." 

The Kaiserin's guards were not impressed with this answer. She raised a hand to prevent them from pointing their guns.

"Would it surprise you to know that the late Kaiser was a great admirer of your work?" 

"Yes," Yang said, taken back. He wasn't one to play coy about the quality of his writing, by any means, but it was still bizarre to think of the great conqueror stepping out of legend to read his monographs.

For the first time, Yang worried that he might have indulged a little too much before this meeting. It stung to think that his good friend whiskey might have betrayed him. 

"I see," the Kaiserin said. She turned to her men. "Gentleman, leave us. The Professor supports the peace. He's aware of what the consequences will be if he assassinates me." 

The men left, discontented, in a swirl of Reuenthal blue. Yang wished they would insist on staying. He'd probably feel safer with some muscle for protection.

The Kaiserin looked small and awkward in her long, old-fashioned dress, but Yang wasn't fooled. Generals who opposed Reinhard von Lohengramm ended up dead. Nobles who displeased his widow found that their food shipments come in half-rotten, their energy supplies don't stretch quite far enough, their trade partners abandoned them and the tax collectors found fault with every byte of data in their books. Their fledgling empire had replaced a master of war with a mistress of the harvest. Both were equally capable of destroying lives. 

"Eminent Kaiserin--"

"The Kaiser _was_ a great admirer of your work," the Kaiserin interrupted Yang. She held out a tablet for him. "I have called you here to ask you to look at his papers and write a chronicle of his military exploits." 

Yang took the tablet but did not look at it. It was almost certainly full of the kind of internal records that his colleagues would kill for. If he looked at it, he'd want to start reading and not stop until his eyes ached. He didn't like the idea of going along with a royal command so easily.

"I'm honoured that you would consider me for such an important task, Kaiserin, but I am sure you are aware that there are other, more suitable historians."

"More suitable for drafting propaganda? Yes, I completely agree. Which is why your work will be filed in the royal archives and never published. You will resign from your post at the university and join my staff on this ship for the duration of your research."

Yang stuffed his hands in his pockets to keep himself from rubbing the back of his neck again. He'd been wrong about his level of drunkenness. He was not _nearly_ intoxicated enough to deal with this situation. A trap was pulling tight around him and he was still lucid enough to feel the edges bite. 

Yang decided never to doubt whiskey again. 

"I assume you looked at my resume. If you ask me to do this, you're placing a lot of very sensitive information into the hands of the assistant editor of the Journal of Democratic Discourse. Wouldn't it be better to let me go?" 

The Kaiserin took a moment to choose her words.

"Reinhard von Lohengramm was a hard man to get close to," she eventually said. "Sometimes, I think that only the men he faced on the battlefield truly understood him. I would like my son to have the chance to know who his father was." 

"And so..."

"I believe that you will exercise your discretion wisely, if you wish for a book written by the former assistant editor of the Journal of Democratic Discourse to be a part of Alexander's education." The Kaiserin favoured Yang with a small smile. The expression was neither smug nor cheerful. It was the look of a woman who knew she had won. "Tomorrow morning, you will visit one of my tailors to acquire more appropriate court dress. Then you will be at liberty to visit your new office."

With that, the Kaiserin sailed out of the audience room and Yang's minders trooped back in. He allowed them to escort him to his new quarters without complaint. 

The Kaiserin was right. The chance to influence the infant prince was too precious to pass up, even if she'd only brought Yang on board to discredit the republican activists who called her a second Goldenbaum, a tyrant who did not care for opposing views. Yang had a duty to all those bright young kids who went to the front while he sat safely behind his desk. And this couldn't take more than a couple of years, could it? No, of course not.

Yang would get started right away. The sooner he began work, the sooner he would be permitted to retire back into comfortable obscurity. Two years wasn't so long to have to live on a spaceship and wear frock coats. 

**Author's Note:**

> Spoiler: Yang spends the next fifty years living on spaceships and wearing frock coats.


End file.
